Your competition is not from within the same school, it's from within your entire state and your MOC district.
Oddly enough there are a total of at least 6 kids that already have an appt from my DS HS class this year alone. That is for all of the academies, not NA. 3 are to NA, one of which is via ROTC. Possibly a 4th, she is the local ALO's daughter.
But it's the most crazy competitive class of kids you've ever seen. DS would have been valedictorian any other year, this year he's 12th in his class.